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[SHUT UP] Movie etiquette

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If someone did take one of our seats (haven't had this problem), I would just slide right up next to them and make them my new best friend in the world. Lots of inadvertent touching, plenty of whispering about how awesome the trailers are, just whatever aggravating shit I can get away with. It isn't like they're going to do shit about it, I'm in a group of ten people.

That's pretty dick. Howsabout you just not have one guy attempt to hold 10 seats? Seems infinitely more reasonable than limp passive aggressive goosery.

Seriously, that's the dumbest thing I've heard today. I love that mindset of "I've got 10 people with me so what are they gonna do...?" You're the reason stupid white kids get shot at bars...

People already beat me to it, but it bears repeating- you're a dick and a dumbass.

If someone did take one of our seats (haven't had this problem), I would just slide right up next to them and make them my new best friend in the world. Lots of inadvertent touching, plenty of whispering about how awesome the trailers are, just whatever aggravating shit I can get away with. It isn't like they're going to do shit about it, I'm in a group of ten people.

Just to get it out of the way and avoid misunderstandings, I get annoyed when my wife whispers to me during a movie. The only reason I'd talk during a movie would be to keep you from feeling like you'd gotten away with something and to encourage you to move on.

They're not your seats. Especially if one or two of you are trying to reserve an entire row.

And you come off as incredibly creepy in that post. That's a pretty good way to get yourself into a lot of trouble.

You can't give your best friend a handjob in the dark unless they are sitting next to you.

That was actually our biggest problem at the theater I worked at. The talk of cell phones and shit being kind of bothersome is something I understand, but I'm kind of surprised none of you ran into the people basically just using the theater like a by the hour motel room. I got more complaints about that than from people talking on their phones and such. Granted, this was in 03 and 04, so it wasn't quite as prevalent.

Another place where saving seats isn't cool: At the bar. Especially at happy hour at a crowded bar with an especially GOOD happy hour meaning that bar space is prime real estate. Dude, it's 5:01 PM. Unless someone is sitting in that seat, fuck you. I can understand saving ONE SEAT for a date or something, but at 5:01? No. Sorry. Your pocketbook/briefcase had better transmogrify into a human being, or you'd better move your bag.

Yet another reason why getting to the movies absurdly early is good, avoiding seat nonsense. I have enough stress in my weekdays, getting to the theater early and just kicking back in a quiet, cool room for a bit is nice. It helps that my theater has comfortable stadium seats that recline a bit plus the bar to hike your legs up on.

Also anyone else really want to go to movies now and watch something from reading this thread? Cowboys and Aliens for me this weekend I think. Or Harry Potter for the 3rd time.

What are the thoughts of sitting immediately next to someone in a hardly full theater?

My fiance and I saw Crazy Stupid Love, and we always get to the theater a half hour or so early. We get middle of the theater, middle of the row, this time being no exception. The theater was maybe a quarter full, plenty of seats in middle section, all around. Two ladies come in and plop down immediately to the left of my fiance (during trailers I think, the lights had gone down). The chick had a hot dog with mustard and something else on it (fiance hates mustard), as well as popcorn. She also pulled out the cell and started texting 2-3 minutes after she'd sat down. She did this once or twice for a few seconds throughout the movie. Fiance moved over to empty seat on the other side of me, but I wanted to smack her. Why would you sit right next to a stranger, a couple at a romantic comedy, when there are plenty of seats available? And the food reeked ... seemed like she had something else odd on the hot dog.

What are the thoughts of sitting immediately next to someone in a hardly full theater?

My fiance and I saw Crazy Stupid Love, and we always get to the theater a half hour or so early. We get middle of the theater, middle of the row, this time being no exception. The theater was maybe a quarter full, plenty of seats in middle section, all around. Two ladies come in and plop down immediately to the left of my fiance (during trailers I think, the lights had gone down). The chick had a hot dog with mustard and something else on it (fiance hates mustard), as well as popcorn. She also pulled out the cell and started texting 2-3 minutes after she'd sat down. She did this once or twice for a few seconds throughout the movie. Fiance moved over to empty seat on the other side of me, but I wanted to smack her. Why would you sit right next to a stranger, a couple at a romantic comedy, when there are plenty of seats available? And the food reeked ... seemed like she had something else odd on the hot dog.

This has happened to me in the past two movies I've seen. It was really weird both times. Wide open theatre and someone was like, "Hey! I want to sit right next to that guy!". Like, wtf?

As always, the one up one away rule is applicable. If you want to sit near another group always keep a buffer of one seat in any direction (diagonally if you're going to sit behind someone). Same thing applies to urinals.

I know this will be a controversial opinion here, but I think cosplaying for movie premiers is weird. Triply so if you're post-pubescent.

I understand this has no bearing on my enjoyment of a film, but it's still weird.

It makes a lot more sense when you remember that every huge fan in the area is going to see the film opening night if able, and that cosplay requires intimate knowledge of the subject matter and details and free time and can show what character and incarnation you like best. It's basically the perfect way to display your position in the fandom.

I wouldn't call it any weirder than cosplaying at a convention (note: I don't actually go to conventions, I'm basing this off what I read here and see in cosplay articles). If someone is a big enough fan that they attend an opening night as a character, that's fine by me. As noted, the die hard fans are the ones most likely to see a movie when it's packed, especially those opening showings. Doing so 2 months after release would be significantly weirder.

At Captain America it was mostly people with Capt America t-shirts, at Harry Potter it was people with cloaks and wands and school costumes (in a few cases this was definitely not a bad thing!), and at Sucker Punch there were a trio of women dressed up as the main characters. This was definitely not a bad thing.

I kind of go by that "don't wear the shirt with the band's name on it to the band's concert that night" rule as far as dressing up goes. If it's Captain America, I'm rocking my Spider Man t-shirt, if it's Green Lantern, I'm wearing the Superman shirt, etc.

I kind of go by that "don't wear the shirt with the band's name on it to the band's concert that night" rule as far as dressing up goes. If it's Captain America, I'm rocking my Spider Man t-shirt, if it's Green Lantern, I'm wearing the Superman shirt, etc.

I brought a toy lightsaber on the opening night of Star Wars Episode I. I think after that film, I wanted to stab myself with it. *grin*

Last night, my girlfriend and I went to see the Thursday Flashback Flick. It was Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The theater was completely packed. Unlike a normal movie showing, the Thursday Flashback Flick crowd is expected and encouraged to participate with the film, and I think this is a social contract that is unique to that particular movie night. So we had people quote along with the film, singing along with the songs, etc. It was a blast.

There was even a young child who was making cute comments while it was playing. Like "Look, a duck!" "What's a newt?" Everyone burst out laughing near the end when King Arthur gets crap dumped on him at the Castle Aaaagh and the child said "He got poo on him. *giggle*" The kid was heard afterwards saying "Nee! Nee!"

I kind of go by that "don't wear the shirt with the band's name on it to the band's concert that night" rule as far as dressing up goes. If it's Captain America, I'm rocking my Spider Man t-shirt, if it's Green Lantern, I'm wearing the Superman shirt, etc.

Come to Boston! Bring your Yankees gear. Maybe we'll see a game.

Sorry, I'm not a big basketball guy...

I do love the movies where the audience is expected to participate. I finally got to see a proper Rocky Horror show last year and it was pretty damn amazing. It was at a comic con and right before that they did a showing of REPO! with people dressed in character acting it out on stage in front of the screen that was just awesome.

Having said that, I've heard that when anyone but the rifftrax crew tries to do a live MST3K-esque event at a con it ends pretty horribly.

Another place where saving seats isn't cool: At the bar. Especially at happy hour at a crowded bar with an especially GOOD happy hour meaning that bar space is prime real estate. Dude, it's 5:01 PM. Unless someone is sitting in that seat, fuck you. I can understand saving ONE SEAT for a date or something, but at 5:01? No. Sorry. Your pocketbook/briefcase had better transmogrify into a human being, or you'd better move your bag.

Sadly though it seems like the person who usually wins this confrontation is the bigger goose. When one person is trying to claim rights to multiple seats, in a limited seating area, during a very busy time; it's pretty clear who the bigger goose is. Which unfortunately means it works most of the time. The guy I mentioned a few pages back, who saved 16 of the best seats to a sold out film, was indeed successful; both in his goosery, and acquiring 15 seats for his goose heard. I wish I could stand up for the right thing, but when I just paid 15 dollars for some easy entertainment, I just can't bring myself to deal with all the gooseness.

Out of curiosity, what do people find is the best method for dealing with the unfit movie goers? Personally I've never seen a direct confrontation (like yelling shut up) go down well. Inevitably it just makes the goosey people act more goosey for a bit, and then they return to not caring.

So, I went to Rise of the Planet of the Apes this afternoon. Work wouldn't let me out a few minutes early for the showing I wanted to catch, so I got to hang around for an hour for the next one. As a result, I was the first one in the theater a good 30 minutes before the movie started.

10 minutes to go, the theaters still empty, and a group of 5 or 6 teenagers comes in and sits down right fucking behind me. Really? An empty goddamned theater, and you're right behind me? Okay, fine. They talk, or fidget, or snark, or make noise, and I'm moving. The theater's filling up a little bit, but it's still relatively empty.

We get through the trailers, and they take a few minutes to settle down, but eventually are quiet, so I'm happy, and figure I can enjoy the movie.

Except, the instant the movie starts, one of them starts bitching at another one about 3 goddamned dollars he owes over motherfucking chicken nuggets. What? The? Fuck?

So I stood up, turned around and gave them the death stare, and then moved down 6 rows.

I love confronting asshole kids. I'm in my 20s and look young, so I don't come across as some creepy adult who is hassling the kids, but man, people just don't know how to react to pissed off crazy guy. When I went to see Avatar there were some high schoolers shouting some weird noise through the trailers. I was furious from the first go because clearly the only reason they're doing this was to be obnoxious. I snuck up behind them and sat down. As soon as one of those assholes did it during the movie (opening credits, but still the movie is on so fuck them), I screamed the same random ass noise right at them. They all jumped several feet in the air and by the time they landed I was back in my seat on the other side of the theatre.

I also put on the crazy tough guy act with some middle schoolers back when I was in high school and trying to watch Big Fish.

Just to get it out of the way and avoid misunderstandings, I get annoyed when my wife whispers to me during a movie. The only reason I'd talk during a movie would be to keep you from feeling like you'd gotten away with something and to encourage you to move on.

Others have pointed out the stupidity of your other statements. I wanted to comment on this one. Why would someone move on? Where would they even go? This seems like a theory that has not been put into practice.

What are the thoughts of sitting immediately next to someone in a hardly full theater?

My fiance and I saw Crazy Stupid Love, and we always get to the theater a half hour or so early. We get middle of the theater, middle of the row, this time being no exception. The theater was maybe a quarter full, plenty of seats in middle section, all around. Two ladies come in and plop down immediately to the left of my fiance (during trailers I think, the lights had gone down). The chick had a hot dog with mustard and something else on it (fiance hates mustard), as well as popcorn. She also pulled out the cell and started texting 2-3 minutes after she'd sat down. She did this once or twice for a few seconds throughout the movie. Fiance moved over to empty seat on the other side of me, but I wanted to smack her. Why would you sit right next to a stranger, a couple at a romantic comedy, when there are plenty of seats available? And the food reeked ... seemed like she had something else odd on the hot dog.

I mentioned this in my post. It's annoying as fuck. When my buddy and I went to see Captain America, the first few rows were still kind of empty, but then two old women who smelled terrible came and sat right next to us. We were like "What the fuck" and moved, only to be surrounded by kids eventually. One kid (who was like 2) yelled out "Hail Hydra!" which was cute, but the kid didn't need to be in the theater.

I don't know why people want to sit next to you or behind you in an otherwise empty theater. I wish there was a study about it.

"I’m going to die one day, probably, without having left my mark on this silly, little planet. I’m going to die an anonymous, meaningless, speck of dust." - Chris Traeger

What are the thoughts of sitting immediately next to someone in a hardly full theater?

My fiance and I saw Crazy Stupid Love, and we always get to the theater a half hour or so early. We get middle of the theater, middle of the row, this time being no exception. The theater was maybe a quarter full, plenty of seats in middle section, all around. Two ladies come in and plop down immediately to the left of my fiance (during trailers I think, the lights had gone down). The chick had a hot dog with mustard and something else on it (fiance hates mustard), as well as popcorn. She also pulled out the cell and started texting 2-3 minutes after she'd sat down. She did this once or twice for a few seconds throughout the movie. Fiance moved over to empty seat on the other side of me, but I wanted to smack her. Why would you sit right next to a stranger, a couple at a romantic comedy, when there are plenty of seats available? And the food reeked ... seemed like she had something else odd on the hot dog.

I mentioned this in my post. It's annoying as fuck. When my buddy and I went to see Captain America, the first few rows were still kind of empty, but then two old women who smelled terrible came and sat right next to us. We were like "What the fuck" and moved, only to be surrounded by kids eventually. One kid (who was like 2) yelled out "Hail Hydra!" which was cute, but the kid didn't need to be in the theater.

I don't know why people want to sit next to you or behind you in an otherwise empty theater. I wish there was a study about it.

I hate sitting in the first couple of rows. Having to crane your neck up is a pain.

"At first he thought it might be a natural occurrence - maybe a rabbit. But upon closer inspection, it was clear a knife had been used. And rabbits don't carry knives."

Last night, my girlfriend and I went to see the Thursday Flashback Flick. It was Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The theater was completely packed. Unlike a normal movie showing, the Thursday Flashback Flick crowd is expected and encouraged to participate with the film, and I think this is a social contract that is unique to that particular movie night. So we had people quote along with the film, singing along with the songs, etc. It was a blast.

Just to look at the seat saving thing from another direction: I've always really _hated_ saving seats. And I've, at most, saved the ones on either side of me with coats. I just feel so guilty doing it, given that you're only likely to be saving seats in a larger showing where people are hunting for good seating.

Out of curiosity, who here use the 'urinal rule' with friends when the theatre isn't busy at all? It's always seemed normal to me. Other than couples sitting next to each other, my friends opt for an open seat between anyone for the extra room. Still close enough to pass snacks (we don't chat anyways) but with enough room not to feel crowded in, so long as the audience is small.

Another place where saving seats isn't cool: At the bar. Especially at happy hour at a crowded bar with an especially GOOD happy hour meaning that bar space is prime real estate. Dude, it's 5:01 PM. Unless someone is sitting in that seat, fuck you. I can understand saving ONE SEAT for a date or something, but at 5:01? No. Sorry. Your pocketbook/briefcase had better transmogrify into a human being, or you'd better move your bag.

Sadly though it seems like the person who usually wins this confrontation is the bigger goose. When one person is trying to claim rights to multiple seats, in a limited seating area, during a very busy time; it's pretty clear who the bigger goose is. Which unfortunately means it works most of the time. The guy I mentioned a few pages back, who saved 16 of the best seats to a sold out film, was indeed successful; both in his goosery, and acquiring 15 seats for his goose heard. I wish I could stand up for the right thing, but when I just paid 15 dollars for some easy entertainment, I just can't bring myself to deal with all the gooseness.

Out of curiosity, what do people find is the best method for dealing with the unfit movie goers? Personally I've never seen a direct confrontation (like yelling shut up) go down well. Inevitably it just makes the goosey people act more goosey for a bit, and then they return to not caring.

Regarding the bar, that hasn't really been my experience, but then again I'm not talking about the person trying to save 15, 10, or even 5 seats at the bar. I wouldn't even have to do anything in that situation - no bartender or restaurant manager is going to let someone save 5 seats at the bar. In fact, most managers in my experience will either ask you to remove your bag from a stool if they see it (especially during a crowded time), or will usher people to a seat with a bag on it and request it be moved. But anyway, I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about the goose saving one or two seats at the end/in the middle of the bar when there's like 100 people trying to get to it.

Instead of asking "is someone sitting here?" I ask "is this yours?" and either point to or stare at the bag/coat. That puts the other person in the position of explaining why their bag is on the chair/stool instead of handing them a reason and making it seem like saving the seat for someone not yet in the establishment is an acceptable response.

Then again, maybe asking in that way makes me the bigger goose, I don't know.

I just think it's goosey to come to a bar and save seats. If you are waiting on a date or something, that's fine. And of course if your friend or date is in the bathroom, that's fine too. I consider "away in the bathroom for a second" as a valid claim to a seat - the seat is occupied if the person is in the bathroom, or say, smoking outside temporarily. But someone that isn't there yet has no claim to any bar stool, especially not at happy hour and any manager would back up a customer wanting to sit over a customer that is holding a seat for someone else, if it really came down to it.

Just to look at the seat saving thing from another direction: I've always really _hated_ saving seats. And I've, at most, saved the ones on either side of me with coats. I just feel so guilty doing it, given that you're only likely to be saving seats in a larger showing where people are hunting for good seating.

Out of curiosity, who here use the 'urinal rule' with friends when the theatre isn't busy at all? It's always seemed normal to me. Other than couples sitting next to each other, my friends opt for an open seat between anyone for the extra room. Still close enough to pass snacks (we don't chat anyways) but with enough room not to feel crowded in, so long as the audience is small.

I sit next to my friends, theater full or not. Then again, I don't have many male friends and even less ones that I go to movies with. They'd (the girls) look at me really funny if I sat a seat down from them.

I suppose that's fine though if the theater is empty. Though if you're in prime spots (center/middle) you'd be polite to sit closer so that other people can possibly take advantage of that row.

"At first he thought it might be a natural occurrence - maybe a rabbit. But upon closer inspection, it was clear a knife had been used. And rabbits don't carry knives."

Regarding the bar, that hasn't really been my experience, but then again I'm not talking about the person trying to save 15, 10, or even 5 seats at the bar. I wouldn't even have to do anything in that situation - no bartender or restaurant manager is going to let someone save 5 seats at the bar. In fact, most managers in my experience will either ask you to remove your bag from a stool if they see it (especially during a crowded time), or will usher people to a seat with a bag on it and request it be moved. But anyway, I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about the goose saving one or two seats at the end/in the middle of the bar when there's like 100 people trying to get to it.

Instead of asking "is someone sitting here?" I ask "is this yours?" and either point to or stare at the bag/coat. That puts the other person in the position of explaining why their bag is on the chair/stool instead of handing them a reason and making it seem like saving the seat for someone not yet in the establishment is an acceptable response.

Then again, maybe asking in that way makes me the bigger goose, I don't know.

Yeah, as a bartender I'd never let anyone save seats (other than someone waiting for a date) unless their friends were going to be there ASAP, and never more than two.

It's a tiny bit of a goosey way to ask. I imagine you're still going to get the same response whether you say it that way or if you ask if anyone is sitting there. I personally would ask the former way. It is a bit more polite, and even if you don't feel that they are being polite, there's no reason to sink to their level.

Esh on August 2011

"At first he thought it might be a natural occurrence - maybe a rabbit. But upon closer inspection, it was clear a knife had been used. And rabbits don't carry knives."